I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love (But I Did)

Gerard REALLY Hates Aaron

Frank had known that eventually, the mulish behaviors of Pete and Gerard would win out in the end. After Patrick and Frank's little spat, they haven't really talked to each other. Actually, Patrick has talked at Frank and Frank's been ignoring him. He spilled his heart out to Patrick, and Patrick made fun of him. Patrick of all people. The most polite human on the planet. The guy who apologizes to walls for stubbing his toe on them, the guy who says sorry for saying sorry too much.

Frank's sure he had to have been lying. It goes against all odds in the universe that Gerard would or could ever be in love with him. To put it simply, Frank's at the point where he doesn't believe Gerard even can love someone. He's a good person, and he can have friends, but Gerard can never really be in love. Not to the extent that Frank can be in love.

Pete is a stubborn little man though, and Gerard might even be more stubborn. Apparently it's too early in Frank's relationship for either of them to introduce the parents, but who's more important than parents? Friends.

They've decided that at long last, Frank is going to bring Aaron home to meet the people who will be a million times more critical about him than Frank's own parents. Frank would rather introduce Aaron to King Henry VIII. At least in meeting the deceased monarch, Frank would have the chance of being beheaded before suffering through the ultimate form of embarrassment.

Probably the first thing that Frank's worried about that's going to make his stomach fall out of his body, is the fact that his apartment doesn't have a real table. They usually don't celebrate Thanksgiving and whatnot with fancy food, because two of the four people participating in the meal are vegetarians. At the very least Frank and Patrick have compatible taste buds. They never really have to worry about seating though, because the couch is big enough for three peoplem, and whoever the last person is just pulls up one of the collapsible lawn chairs they keep in the closet by the bathroom.

Issue number two is the fact that all of Frank's friends are complete psychopaths. Gerard never shuts up about superheroes, Patrick is always talking about the artist formerly known as Prince, and Pete is Pete. Frank's being a little judgmental though. Sometimes Gerard talks about Star Wars. It doesn't always have to be superheroes. It usually is though.

Problem number three is that there's a certain amount of tension within the group, let alone in Frank and Aaron's relationship. Aaron understood, but there's a bit of a divide between them ever since Frank ran away a few weeks ago. Patrick and Frank aren't really on speaking terms, Gerard's been avoiding Frank at all cost, and Pete will talk to anyone who will listen to him. Some things never change. Though Patrick's been kind of distant with Pete because Frank hasn't been talking to him, which has made Pete feel like Patrick is mad at him which means that... basically, everything is just really tense.

To make it worse though Mikey has invited himself to the really dysfunctional get-together. Apparently he's still in disbelief that Frank has a boyfriend, or maybe he's just going to give Gerard moral support. Patrick's also coming even though Frank would really rather him not, because neither of them wants to explain why they're not getting along at the moment. They're trying to pretend they didn't have a dispute.

Frank's just trying to make his feelings for Gerard go away the best he can. The fact that Gerard's been partially avoiding him is not helping. Gerard's pulled himself together a little bit, but not by much. He's able to function well enough to make it to his job, but he's not performing well. Frank's broken three plates in the last two weeks at his job, but luckily none of them had food on them.

Really everything in the world is coming together all at once to make sure, with absolute certainty, that everything goes disastrously wrong.

There's a crappy folding poker table that was the best thing they could find in the storage unit in the basement. It's going to be used as a makeshift dining table. Technically it belonged to the previous tenants of Frank and Gerard's apartment, but they left it behind, so they decide it's okay to use. Gerard and Pete had to drag it up to their apartment because Frank was afraid that there might be spiders down there. Oddly enough, Gerard found it endearing. Pete, however, did not.